Minnesota Psychedelics Task Force Urges Lawmakers To Decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms And Launch Therapeutic Access Program

A Minnesota government task force charged with making psychedelics-related policy recommendations officially sent a report to lawmakers last week calling on the legislature to decriminalize the use and possession of personal-use amounts of psilocybin mushrooms as well as establish a state-regulated program for legal therapeutic access.

The body also encouraged lawmakers to put more state funding toward clinical research into psilocybin and substances like MDMA and LSD.

The recommendations from Minnesota’s Psychedelic Medicine Task Force are purely advisory, and lawmakers would need to introduce and pass legislation to formally enact them. But at least one lawmaker told Marijuana Moment he intends to support the changes in the coming session.

Established through a bill signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz (D) in May of last year, the group is responsible for advising state lawmakers on “the legal, medical, and policy issues associated with the legalization of psychedelic medicine in the state.” It was charged with returning a final report to the state with findings and recommendations by January 1.

Three of the proposals the group considered earned the required support of two-thirds of the task force members to become official recommendations. The roughly two-dozen-person panel includes lawmakers and agency representatives as well as a host of others appointed by the governor with experience in health policy, mental health, substance use disorders, veterans health and psychedelic medicine.

The approved recommendations are:

Other suggestions got support from a majority of members but did not reach the official two-thirds threshold. Task force members included the proposals in the report “should the state wish to consider them in the future.”

Some of the additional ideas considered by the panel include: a psilocybin decriminalization plan that would also remove penalties around noncommercial cultivation and sharing; decriminalization of personal use and possession of MDMA, synthetic psilocybin and LSD; the creation of a state-regulated program for the clinical administration of MDMA and LSD; and the commercial legalization of psilocybin mushrooms for adults.

In arriving at the adopted recommendations, the body said it followed guiding principles including scientific rigor, collaboration and inclusivity, accountability to the public, practicality, social equity and others.

As for decriminalization, the task force “discussed various options for removing criminal penalties for a variety of behaviors related to psychedelic medicines, including use and possession of personal amounts of both synthetic and naturally derived medicines, and whether to recommend allowing cultivation and sharing for natural/organic psilocybin-containing mushrooms.”

Ultimately members voted to recommend removing criminal penalties around only personal use and possession of psilocybin mushrooms—not cultivation or sharing and not any other psychedelics.

“There is broad agreement across disciplines that decriminalization is the simplest solution to allow access, while allowing for other programs to exists [sic] that promote safety and harm reduction for users,” the report says.

“The Minnesota Medical Association (MMA) and American Medical Associations (AMA) have both endorsed removing criminal penalties for the possession of all drugs, including MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD,” it adds. “Those that are opposed to removing criminal penalties worry about higher rates of abuse and adverse events that will negatively impact public safety and diversion of dangerous drugs, but this has not been shown in evidence drawn from other cities, states, and countries that have implemented these policies to varying degrees.”

As for therapeutic use of psychedelics, the group said it “officially recommends a state-regulated program for the clinical administration of psilocybin-containing mushrooms,” which had support among three quarters of task force members. Synthetic psilocybin narrowly missed out on inclusion, with only 64 percent of members—just under two thirds—voting in support.

“While the same principals [sic] for supportive therapy, facilitation regulations, and training apply for both natural and synthetic psychedelic medicines, sourcing synthetic medicines would not be possible outside of a number of special circumstances,” the report says.

Among U.S. states, only Oregon and Colorado have legalized similar programs.

“In service of creating an equitable system for clinical uses of psilocybin-containing mushrooms, efforts to remove criminal and civil penalties for their use and possession would provide further protections for Minnesotans wanting to engage in clinical programs with psilocybin-containing mushrooms, as Colorado is proposing to do,” the report says. “This heavily relies on the recommendation of removing criminal penalties statewide of use, possession, and cultivation of psilocybin containing mushrooms for access to the medicine. This creates a local pathway for equitable and efficient access to the psychedelic medicines for clinical uses.”

While the psychedelic task force’s decisions about which recommendations to include happened months ago, the official publication of the group’s report to lawmakers comes about two weeks before Minnesota’s legislative session kicks off on January 14.

Reached by email this week, Rep. Andy Smith (D) told Marijuana Moment that his “hope and intention is to work for legislation to be passed that includes the formal recommendations in the report.” However, he also acknowledged that last November’s vote—which split the House of Representatives equally between Democrats and Republicans—could complicate things.

“While we are in a somewhat unknown and uncharted position in the Minnesota House of Representatives, being tied equally 67-67 for only the second time in state history, I expect legislation to be presented with the recommendations of the committee,” he said on Thursday. “The task force had representation from both parties and there was some real agreement on basic questions that are reflected in the report.”

Other lawmakers who served as members of the task force included Rep. Nolan West (R) and Sens. Kelly Morrison (D), Scott Dibble (D), Julia Coleman (R) and Mark Koran (R), who were selected by their party’s leader in their respective chamber.

Smith added that the task force, which doesn’t disband until mid-2025 despite already publishing its report, will also continue to serve as a resource for lawmakers who undertake related legislation.

Smith was the lawmaker whose bill created the task force, and he’s previously indicated interest in introducing legislation based on the body’s recommendations, though he has not pledged to follow the recommendations entirely.

“First and foremost, I am a representative of my constituents here in Minnesota,” he said in an earlier interview with Marijuana Moment last year. “I have to stick to my conscience there. But the reason we went this route is because I want to be dedicated to listening to the experts on this particular issue and be as responsible as possible.”

The body’s first meeting, last November, took place more than three months after it was initially scheduled. Most of that meeting consisted of housekeeping, such as selecting a chairperson and laying out the trajectory of the coming months.

West, a GOP task force member appointed by the House minority leader who also served on the bicameral conference committee that finalized Minnesota’s marijuana legalization law, said at the time that he was “interested in this area to try and help people through more natural means.”

As originally introduced as a standalone bill, Smith’s psychedelics legislation would have required the task force to look at mescaline, bufotenine, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, 2C-B, ibogaine, salvinorin A and ketamine. But it was amended in committee to focus only on psilocybin, MDMA and LSD.

In addition to creating the psychedelics task force, the omnibus bill that the governor signed to create the Psychedelic Medicine Task Force also included provisions to establish safe drug consumption sites.

A separate Minnesota law also took effect last year that legalized drug paraphernalia possession, syringe services, controlled substances residue and testing.

The psychedelics reform movement went through a series of ups and downs in 2024, with a mix of victories and setbacks on the federal and state levels, including the disappointment around FDA’s decision on MDMA.

Ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking office later this month, meanwhile, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), who also served in the first Trump administration, called Trump’s new choices for key health policy positions a “great gift” for the psychedelics reform movement, particularly as it concerns access to ibogaine as a treatment option for serious mental health conditions.

“We’re sitting here with 20-plus veterans a day killing themselves. Yet we have a compound that clearly the data shows that this compound—appropriately used and appropriately overseen—can absolutely change lives and save lives,” he said in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. “And for me to be able to to know that, and then still see government say, ‘No, we’re not interested,’ is really frustrating.”

Perry said that’s why he’s “excited” about Trump’s plans to insert Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as well as others, such as physician and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Kennedy has championed key policies such as promoting access to psychedelics therapy and reshaping federal marijuana laws.

Meanwhile, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) recently urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to finalize guidance on conducting clinical trials into psychedelics to facilitate research, including investigations focusing on the potential benefits of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin for military veterans.

Oregon’s Psilocybin Industry Aims To Fine-Tune State’s First-In-Nation Therapeutic Psychedelics System In 2025

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia/Workman.